Trees

            Today when we were talking about Kagura I began thinking about the concept of a tree representing a person.  In Kagura the Sakaki branch seems to be the essence of the performance in the earliest Japanese theatre.  It is what sticks out to me the most, not only because it is a defining component of the theatre form but because I can parallel it to what I am personally familiar with.  In my knowledge of western society, a way to honor those who have died is to plant a tree or bench or some semi-permanent object in their name.  It was this connection that really allowed me to grasp the extreme significance of the Sakaki branch.

            In Kagura the branch is an intermediary, portal type-object that allows deities to be housed on earth, within the tree the branch was taken from.  After the deity has been summoned in Achime no-waza, the Torimono songs and messages to the deities, complete the summoning of the divinities and establish the particular Sakaki tree as sacred.  Because trees have extremely long lifespans they are a semi-permanent mark on the planet.  This quality allows the essence of the deity to live forever through the tree’s embodiment.  Similarly, in western society, dedicating a tree or planting one for a late loved one acts as an intermediary of their spirit and the earth.  With the planting of the tree, the loved one will forever be a part of the earth and their legacy will live on even though they are not physically on earth.  The tree serves to embody what cannot physically be present and its sense of permanence serves as an eternal memory. 

This relation to Kagura really emblazoned the significance of the Sakaki branch to me and helped me to recognize the amazing extent to which these trees are now sacred.  Furthermore, Kagura really made me realize how important these trees of dedication must be to families who planted them when the rest of western society does not honor such trees in the same light.  It also got me thinking about the origins of customs similar to this.  Did they originate in Kagura?  I am really curious as to where the relation of spirits, trees and earth began because after this class I have really felt the connection a tree has the ability to establish.